ds clinched.

"It is not always advisable to speak the exact truth, you know that well
enough, Pauline; but I have not deceived you. Does a man deceive the
woman he really loves?"

"The lie and the deceit are one," she returned. "You sent for this other
woman, this Mademoiselle St. Clair. It was not your servant's plan.
Latour was a fool to believe you."

"Was he? My dear, wise Pauline, his point of view and yours are not the
same. You are jealous, whereas he--"

"I stop at nothing when I am jealous," she said. "The sooner you
discover that phase in my character the better for you, Lucien."

"I discovered that after I had known you ten minutes," laughed Lucien,
"and I am not afraid. Shall I tell you why? I have not deceived you, nor
have I any intention of doing so. This Latour is too inquisitive, and
inquisitiveness is always asking for a lie. Latour got it and is quite
satisfied. Mademoiselle Pauline Vaison is a woman, a woman in love, and
just because she is so, is suspicious. All women in love are. So I have
not told her all my plans. To complete them it was necessary to get
Mademoiselle St. Clair to Paris, so I sent for her."

"You are in love with her. You--"

"She is rich," Bruslart answered. "Her fortune is in her own hands.
Wait, Pauline. Had I wanted to marry her, what was to prevent my
crossing the frontier when so many of my friends and acquaintances did?
But I am in love with her fortune. If I am to make myself felt in Paris,
if I am to do what I have set my heart to accomplish, money I must have.
True, I am not penniless like some of our ragged patriotic comrades,
but, believe me, power will eventually rest with the man who can scatter
the most gold to the people. That man I am scheming to be."

"Therefore you would marry this woman," said Pauline.

"Therefore I would obtain part of her fortune."

"That is what I say; you would marry her."

"No, I had not thought of that," said Bruslart, carelessly.

"How, then, can you obtain it?"

"Once she is in Paris, there are many plans to choose from. I have not
yet decided which one to take; but certainly it will not be marriage.
She, too, is a woman in love, and such a woman will do much for a man. A
few marks of a pen and I am rich, free to work towards my end, free to
help Mademoiselle St. Clair to return to Beauvais. You say you heard all
that Latour told me?"

"Everything."

"Then you heard his advice concerning marriage. Find a woman in Pari